When it chocolate rains, it chocolate pours.
You magnificent bastard.
Hollow teeth and tartar, cuz when it rains it pours - fiddy
Don’t worry, guys. I’ve been assured that this system is perfectly meritocratic.
“Merit can be whatever I say it is” - The Bourgeois___
It is meritocratic… for high quality organic beings.
Whose fault is it that stupid peasants assumed they were included?
Man.
I’ve always taken care of my teeth.
I’m getting older and they’re falling apart. I can’t afford to get them “fixed” but hey, “we’ll yank ‘em out fer ya.”
K…
Thanks.
Coincidentally accurate comment for me. Just had a tooth that I had grown very fond over the years removed and left vacant because of the cost associated with replacing it rivaling that of cars I’ve bought in the past. As the teeth shift and get loose because of the missing soldier, I’ll just have to allow them to fall out or have them pulled until I can have dentures made up.
I have dental insurance, it’s just none of that necessary tooth replacement if you want to keep the rest of your teeth stuff is covered.
a tooth that I had grown very fond over the years
Found Chip Skylark.
Googling the name led me to this, and I think your comment fits the bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRdw_Qgwqc
Same boat here. I’m down 2 teeth already thanks to this bullshit medical system. 2 teeth I absolutely did not need to lose completely. Thanks guys. Also thanks Navy for pulling those wisdom teeth that didn’t need to go, I really could have used them now.
Same for me. MC pulled my wisdoms literally while I was at Mt. Fuji. They just decided the entire platoon needed them gone. It didn’t matter if yours were problematic(like leaning or sideways). If you had them, they took them.
Yeah they wouldnt listen to me wouldnt do x-rays, nothing. “Winsdom teeth bad, must go”. Meanwhile I was very aware of the fact that I have sufficient jaw space for wisdom teeth. My dentist was really happy that I didn’t have to get them removed… fucking navy dental is so bad.
Dental insurance is such a scam. (Honestly so is vision insurance)
Worse than the direct cost is opportunity cost. Wealthy have money to invest and over time it snowballs. An eventful day in the market can swing their net worth more than the average person will earn in a year or maybe even a lifetime.
Think about what that means for an economy too. It means tons of folks are trapped in poverty cycles instead of innovating, starting businesses, or going to school and getting training etc. Because these things are all risky and require investment, which they can’t do.
It tends to lead to societal collapse eventually, but at least a tiny percentage of people are having a good time right now!
Terry Pratchett said it pretty well https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-rich-were-so-rich-vimes-reasoned
I came to the comments section just to see if anyone had posted Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
Paying for healthcare is already bizarre as is. I still do not comprehend how Americans do not immediately revolt over this. Why exactly are you paying taxes for? If everything is privatized and costly… what’s the explanation given for your taxes? I’m not being ironic, I truly do not understand.
There are people who are convinced that the reason our healthcare is so expensive is because we “subsidize healthcare for the rest of the world.” They live in this version of reality where exorbitant salaries of CEOs and dividends in the healthcare and drug industries are somehow not the cause of insulin creeping past $100/vial
I was curious so I looked up Pfizer’s executive compensation. A dozen or so directors make $400k but C suite tops out at a cool $33 mil for the CEO and $9.7 for COO. I’ll never understand why shareholders put up with that, it’s a leach on all of us. (The answer to my own question is that when management makes you an eye popping $31 billion net income in a year you don’t ask questions.)
https://s28.q4cdn.com/781576035/files/doc_financials/2022/sr/Proxy-Statement-2023.pdf
Because us Americans have been taught that this is how it is. And unfortunately only one side wants to change this.
Never fun thing when I have to leave a job and I lose my health insurance for the reason I’ve just losing a job. Or I can pay full amount for the insurance after I leave like $800 a month for one person.
Neither side wants to change this lol
One side is… more friendly to the idea of public services. I know what you’re saying, but while the liberals and the fascists might be buddies, only one wants people to directly die.
One side is… more friendly to the idea of public services
Correction: One side SAYS they’re more friendly to the idea of public servies.
Those words are worthless because they don’t do anything meaningful with their power to make said services a reality.
The real answer is that Americans conservatives genuinely hate the poor, and will happily double their own healthcare costs if it means denying poor people access to care. They will fight tooth and nail to preserve the system that rich white Americans can afford, but poor black people can’t.
It is important to view American politics through a prism of cruelty.
98% of our people are love the status quo as long as it punishes the right people.
Sad thing is so do most democrats/liberals
The pentagon, mostly.
Turns out humans are kind of awful. If you under-educate them enough and then feed them propaganda they’ll believe almost anything. Also they’re really resistant to change. Not a great combination of factors. You might have noticed their adverse effect on the climate lately…
For our taxes we get war in nine countries at the same time.
And not only that, our government has managed to spend more than 100 billion on another country’s war too.
98% of the voting public in America thinks you’re not entitled to anything you can’t put cash down for. It’s insane, but that’s how we vote every two years.
breathes away from microphone
He’s right tho.
I’ve said this before as “being broke is expensive af.”
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
- Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play
Barefoot mfs: I have no such weaknesses
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Don’t worry, when they become major repairs that you still can’t afford, you’ll start getting fines that you can’t afford! And then your house will eventually be foreclosed on, and bought for pennies that you can’t afford. And then you won’t have to worry about it anymore!
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If you have cancer and can’t afford the treatment, you should just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and take care of that tumor yourself at home. Maybe start a small tumor removal business.
That sweet man, I’ll love him forever.
My experience living in the USA has also illustrated that, in order to benefit from certain assistance programs such as income-based discounted rates on internet services (namely Xfinity in my region), you must first be actively receiving public assistance. In other words, to receive aid, you must already be receiving aid.
I have not found consistent work for over 15 months but earn enough money to pay rent, utilities, and cover basic meals. However, I don’t want to receive public assistance as it would make me feel like I am “officially in need” or “poor” rather than overcoming a temporary obstacle. I say this because, for the average person, there may be very little blocking the temptation to pursue the maximum amount of public assistance possible, as corroborated by supplemental internet service rate programs. I simply wish to accept only what is needed and nothing more.
And that’s not even talking about late fees, overdraft fees, etc.
Being poor is so incredibly expensive.
